Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026 • Cold, but we may hit freezing today. Cloudy. ☁️

We’d love to see your weather photos. Message them as attachments to [email protected], and include location and photo credit.

Winter storm resources:
Closings: OKC | Tulsa | Texoma
Road conditions: ODOT | ArcGIS
Track ODOT snowplows: oksnowplows.org
ACOG: Central Oklahoma snow routes
OKC airport: flyokc.com
Tulsa airport: flytulsa.com
Train schedule: Heartland Flyer
Oklahoma City Free Press: City of OKC services updates
Tulsa Flyer: Tulsa offices, services closed

By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice
Click here to support their newsroom.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s chief of public schools asked state lawmakers for a mostly flat education budget but indicated the state could benefit from a far larger investment.

In a budget hearing at the state Capitol on Monday, state Superintendent Lindel Fields requested $4 billion for public education, $23 million more than the state’s current spend to account for the rising cost of educators’ health insurance. Lawmakers will consider the request when crafting a state budget for the 2027 fiscal year.

He also gave a list of priorities without a cost attached to them: school security, raising first-year teacher salaries, teacher development, school leader training and improving literacy.

Fields described these priorities as fundamentals that would enable the state to execute a broader strategy toward academic improvement, particularly in elementary reading.

“Those are the X’s and O’s,” he said while making a football analogy. “We get those right, I think we can successfully run the plays — this year’s play being early literacy.”

Click here for the full story.

Send me your winter storm and winter fun pics from the weekend. I’d love to include them in the Oklahoma Memo this week.

Today’s photo paints a serene picture of winter in Collinsville, Okla., courtesy of Dr. Chris Utsler.

We might just make this ‘View from your phone’ segment a regular thing, showing the sights and natural beauty of Oklahoma. My email is always open: [email protected].

By Elizabeth Caldwell, Public Radio Tulsa
Click here to support their newsroom.

Gov. Kevin Stitt said “Americans don’t like what they are seeing” in Minneapolis.

On Saturday, a 37-year-old apparently unarmed man was shot at least three times in the back while on the ground in the city, after masked federal agents appeared to take a gun he had been carrying at his waist. Alex Pretti, a nurse, is the third person to be wounded or killed by the government in the unrest in Minneapolis, a very liberal city that officials say is being targeted by the Republican Trump administration not for immigration enforcement but for a campaign of retribution, chaos, and fear.

Videos taken by bystanders who felt compelled to document the actions of federal agents, ostensibly searching the city for undocumented immigrants, show a “free-for-all” response from officials, according to expert analysis.

Stitt told CNN that President Donald Trump was elected to reform the country’s immigration system after a record number of people attempted to cross the Southwest border under President Joe Biden. Stitt said Trump is getting “bad advice” though.

“I think the death of Americans, what we’re seeing on TV, it’s causing deep concerns over federal tactics and accountability,” Stitt said. ” “Americans don’t like what they’re seeing right now.”

Click here for the full story.

Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.

Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.

A hand-curated list of the best journalism from across the state:

• Wish you were here: Remember the 10, 25 years later (NonDoc)

• Open primary supporters deliver signatures to Oklahoma Secretary of State (Oklahoma Voice)

• OKC Council to address planned ICE detention facility (The Oklahoman)*

• Oklahomans weigh in on gun rights amid Minneapolis shooting death at ICE protest (KFOR)

• Oklahoma lawmakers file slate of anti-immigration bills ahead of legislative session (KOSU)

• Woman rescued alive from snow-covered shelter as bitter cold grips Oklahoma (News 9)

• 'Stability in the storm': Oasis Fresh Market stayed stocked through snow storm (2 News Oklahoma)

• Despite court orders to improve, report shows growing waitlist for mental health treatment in jail (KOSU)

• Data centers, utility bills and water among subjects of Oklahoma lawmakers this year (KGOU)

• Oklahoma’s Housing Stability Program lauded, but ‘tweaks’ eyed to build on success (NonDoc)

• Federal judge declines to dismiss cases against Northeast Oklahoma prosecutors challenging tribal jurisdiction (Tulsa Flyer)

• ‘It’s gonna put Tulsa on the map’: City celebrates groundbreaking for new space center (The Oklahoma Eagle)

• Oklahoma cities urge water conservation as extreme cold spurs water woes (KOSU)

• Woman takes fight for resentencing under Oklahoma Survivors' Act back to court (Tulsa World)*

• Bill seeks to reduce guardrails on Oklahoma alligator ownership, breeding (Oklahoma Voice)

The ‘Oklahoma Memo’ mission is simple: Reignite the daily local news habit by connecting Oklahomans and those who love Oklahoma to quality sources of news and vetted information.

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